Verdict: Plenty of copper means good cooling performance

The CNPS9500LED is Zalman's latest CPU HSF, and it's designed to fit all modern CPU types.

At the heart of the CNPS9500LED is a blue illuminated 92mm fan, the speed of which can be adjusted between 1,350rpm and 2,600rpm using the supplied Zalman Fan Mate 2 rheostat. The fan cools a spiral of copper fins that conducts heat away from the copper base and heatpipes. This amount of copper means the CNPS9500LED tips the scales at 530g, so it has to be bolted through the motherboard to avoid damaging the CPU socket. Typically, the CNPS9500LED is positioned to suck in cool air at the front, and blow hot air out the back.

In our Athlon 64 test rig, the CNPS9500LED proved disappointing; with the fan running at maximum speed and making quite a racket, it cooled the CPU to 13ûC below the reference AMD HSF. For Pentium 4s, the CNPS9500LED is a different matter, thanks to its ultra-secure mounting mechanism. At maximum fan speed, it cooled the Pentium 4 to 16ûC below the reference Intel HSF, and at minimum fan speed 10ûC below.

Although the CNPS9500LED is a decent cooler and looks great, it's very expensive. As such, we can't recommend it over cheaper and more effective HSFs in this test.

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